


Round and Round and Round

by artificialmac



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Angst, M/M, Post-Break Up, Reminiscing, past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-09-19 14:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9445745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialmac/pseuds/artificialmac
Summary: Justin works too hard, so Aaron takes him away from the world for a while. (That sounds really deep, they basically break into a fair and talk about their feelings on a carousel).





	

“Are you still here?”

Justin looked up from his seat at the piano. He glanced down at his watch, noticing the three numbers signaling he had been here for nearly three four now. Time had gone by quicker than he had realized. It was his day off in between BOTS shows. He did what he usually did on days he wasn’t supposed to work: work. He usually found himself in a music shop or a theatre, anywhere with a piano and a flat surface. He had lucked out this time with an empty auditorium. “I was just writing a new song, and I got stuck. I didn’t realize how long I’d been here.”

“You are working a lot lately.”

“I have to. This is my job.” Justin had been looking at the keys, but made eye contact with Aaron as he spoke again, “You of all people should understand that.”

“I do, trust me I get it, but you hardly have any time to sleep these days, let alone work for hours every night.”

“I know. But I’m fine.” Aaron gave him a doubtful look, “Really. I’m fine.” Justin insisted.

Aaron walked up the steps of the stage and made his way over to the piano. He tried to look at the paper Justin had been scribbling on, but the younger man snatched it and flipped it over before Aaron could make out anything distinctive. “Hey! C’mon you know I wouldn’t judge.”

“It’s personal.”

“Even better.”

Aaron made a move to grab the paper, but Justin yanked it away. “Seriously Aaron. Cut it out.”

Aaron knew when he was pushing it. He held his hands up in surrender. “All right fine, be all mysterious.” Justin turned back to the piano, lines of concentration etched into his forehead as the cogs in his head started to turn once more. “Come out with me.”

“What?” Justin sounded exasperated.

“Come out with me. I know a great place.”

“Aaron, I can’t. I’m working.”

“It’s our day off.” When Justin made no attempts to move from his spot, Aaron sat down on the piano bench beside him, effectively jarring Justin. “When was the last time you went out and had some real fun?” Justin rolled his eyes, but sitting this close beside him, Aaron could see the slight smile on the younger man’s face. Aaron bumped their shoulders together over and over again until there was a full on smile enveloping Justin’s face. “Please.” He asked.

“Fine.” Justin said it like he was annoyed, but Aaron knew he wasn’t. “But I’m not going to a bar or a strip club or anything like that.”

Aaron put his hand over his heart in mock offense. “I resent that. I’ve never set foot in a place like that in my life. How dare you accuse me of such.”

Justin laughed at him. It was easy and effortless and made something in Justin ache. He and Aaron hadn’t talked in a while. Far too long in Justin’s opinion. There was still that old tension that always happened when they were both in the same room, but each of them were doing their best to ignore it.

Justin let himself be pulled up off of the piano bench and led to Aaron’s car outside. He hopped into the passenger’s seat. “So where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” Justin sighed like he was annoyed, but secretly, he loved surprises.

He pressed his nose to the window as big buildings and cars and other people passed by. He marveled at how big the world seemed, and simultaneously how big he felt in this too warm, too small car, with this too beautiful, too amazing man.

Justin was so wrapped up in his own head that he hardly noticed they had stopped until he heard the click of Aaron’s seat belt. He looked up and saw a pair of large iron gates, and just beyond them was a dark structure that Justin couldn’t make out in the darkness. Aaron walked up to the tall gates, Justin at his heel, and looked at them for a moment, contemplating.

“Umm Aaron?”

“Mmm?”

“What are we doing?”

Aaron turned to Justin with a spark in his eye. A look Justin had seen many times before. It made his stomach turn. “You’ll see.” Then Aaron proceeded to walk along the iron fence until he found a space wide enough to fit through. He wormed his way through the bars without hesitation, Justin on the other hand stopped. ”Aaron. Where are you going?”

“C’mon.” Aaron motioned at the bars he had just slid through.

Justin looked left and right, “Is this legal?”

“God I hope not.”

“Aaron!”

“Just come with me. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Justin heaved another sigh and mumbled something about killing Aaron if they got arrested. Aaron laughed at that. When Justin made it to the other side of the fence, Aaron stopped him. “Ok now close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Just do it, ok.”

Justin put his hands over his eyes and waited. He heard Aaron’s footsteps walking away from him. He felt ridiculous just standing there, and he was about to say as such to Aaron, but the next moment he could see a sudden burst of light through the spaces in-between his fingers. A few more seconds he waited, until he felt a familiar presence beside him once more. “Ok. Open them.”

Justin’s hands fell from his eyes to his mouth as he gasped. The dark structure that he couldn’t make out before was now decorated with hundreds of lights. It was a carousel. The lights and the darkness of the night contrasted perfectly, making the horses look more real than if it had been daytime. It looked almost magical.

Justin couldn’t contain the smile and the rush of excitement that ran through him. Before he could even think, he had jumped on the nearest horse, as the carousel began to move. The theatrical music began blaring from the speakers, and Justin had never felt this free before. It was a bit silly he’d admit, but it was just the right amount of silly. The perfect amount of silly actually. He laughed and hummed and when Aaron jumped up beside him, he laughed and hummed too.

They rode and rode, until they had each ridden every horse twice, and the corny song was stuck in both of their heads. Aaron and Justin finally decided to jump off when they saw the first traces of sunlight scratch their way along the black sky. Justin stood by the iron gates and watched the stars begin to disappear, while Aaron turned off the machine.

They made their way back through the gate and to the parking lot, but rather than get in, Aaron sat on the hood of the car. Justin joined him, and they laid back and watched the sun come up. He didn’t realize how long it had been since either of them spoke, until Aaron broke the silence. “I missed this.”

“I missed you too.”

Aaron smiled. “We should do this more often.”

“No.”

Aaron sat up then, “Why not? Was this not a good idea? Are you angry?”

Justin sat up too, trying to keep from spilling everything running through his head, the way he desperately wanted to. “No. It was perfect. This was perfect.” He motioned to nothing in particular, “This was just what I needed.”

“And that is a bad thing?”

Justin sighed, seemingly for the hundredth time that evening. “Because it’s about you.”

“I’m not following.”

“The song. The one I was writing. It’s about you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

A silence settled between them. It was full of understanding and not understanding, and a whole lot of something else. They both wanted to do something to break the tension, but neither wanted to do the wrong thing. Justin felt tentative fingers intertwine with his, and he gave Aaron a sad smile. They stayed that way for a while, just looking up at the sky.

The air was chilly, but Aaron’s hand was warm, and the sunrise was beautiful, and for the briefest moment, everything was ok.


End file.
